The Big Chill Has Begun

Posted by Nicole

There’s a chill in the air here in the Northeast, and overnight temperatures in the 30s and 40s have necessitated the use of the furnace already. Normally, I try to wait as long as I can before turning the sucker on every winter, but I just get too cold, and now that I’m a homeowner, I don’t want to freeze anymore! Hey, if we’re saddled with a mortgage, why not increase the utility bills while we’re at it?

But with the heat comes a compromise: Our back “bonus” room had (yes, HAD) it’s own heater, since it was apparently an afterthought, so there’s no forced-air heat vent back there. But since we discovered a gas leak coming from it a few months ago, I had it capped. So instead of heating a room we don’t use often (living room with the HDTV flatscreen wins), I have the door closed. Went in there this morning, and it’s cold! Oh well. It’s a shame, but we won’t be heating that room unless we intend to use it.

Meanwhile, our thermostat is one of those old ones — turn the dial. I’m thinking a digital thermostat is the way to go, so we can program the temperatures for the morning, day and evening. It won’t run too much money, and perhaps I can install it myself. We’ll see how handy I really am!